Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Thursday November 1, 2001
Lisa Richwine
A senior U.S. trade official, who requested anonymity, said Thursday the language the poor nations want was too broad and would allow them to suspend intellectual property rights for many products, not just medicines. But the activists, chanting and carrying signs with pictures of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and drawings of skulls, said it was unfair for the United States to fight poor countries' efforts after it pressed Bayer AG last week to sharply discount its anthrax drug Cipro.
"To deny poor countries the measures that the U.S. used just last week to push down the cost of medicine in unacceptable," said Paul Davis, a member of the AIDS group ACT-UP Philadelphia.
Bayer cut Cipro's price after some lawmakers pressed the Bush administration to bypass the firm's patent and buy cheaper generic versions to prepare the nation for bioterrorism.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said he never threatened to break the patent.
If anything, the Cipro case shows "how governments can act quickly within the bounds of TRIPs," the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement, to respond to health emergencies, the senior U.S. trade official said.
The pharmaceutical industry has vigorously fought to protect patents on brand-name drugs, calling them essential incentives for development of new medicines.
U.S. trade officials said negotiators were offering several measures to help sub-Saharan African nations deal with HIV, which afflicts 25 million people there. For example, the United States has proposed giving least-developed nations a 10-year extension until 2016 to come into full compliance with all pharmaceutical-related patent obligations.
The WTO meeting is set for Nov. 9 to Nov. 13.
Protest organizers said 400 people took part in the demonstration that filled a sidewalk outside the U.S. trade offices, a block from the White House, during the evening rush hour.
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